Possibilistic Analysis of Structural Systems Subjected to Blast Loads

Author(s):  
Hari B. Kanegaonkar

The accidental release of the hydrocarbons and the possibility of resulting explosion have to be taken into account while designing the topside systems of the offshore structures. Determination of design explosion loads for the topside structures is a complex task since it involves several sources of uncertainty. Dimensioning of blast loads is important in achieving the desired safety level against the structural failure and related consequences. The design loads must incorporate uncertainties due to variability in the ignition point location, the type of ignition source, the volume of the gas released and the characteristics of the gas cloud etc. These uncertainties which are not statistical in nature may not be categorised as random or probabilistic but are cognitive and fuzzy in nature. The probabilistic framework for structural analysis subjected to blast loads could be quite cumbersome due to high number of uncertain variables and complex interdependency. The uncertainty in the load and corresponding uncertainty in the structural response can either be predicted from variations in the uncertain load parameters — a sensitivity evaluation or through a compact “possibilistic analysis”. The blast loads are usually defined as a triangular pulse through peak pressure, rise time and the blast pulse duration as the parameters. In the present investigation, the parameters in the triangular blast load description are assumed fuzzy. The peak pressure, rise time and blast pulse duration are defined using triangular fuzzy numbers. The possibilistic dynamic response of simple structural system — beam — used in the blast wall is obtained using single-degree of freedom approximation. It is shown that the possibilistic response provides rational decision making tool to arrive at desired safety level.

Author(s):  
Franck Schoefs

Structural response to extreme events or fatigue loadings and structural integrity are major criteria to be quantified in a rational process of reassessment. It is now well established that the probabilistic mechanics approach gives an efficient means for measuring the relative changing in safety level compared to a predefined requirement. To this aim, effects of marine growth have been largely studied during the last two decades. This natural process of structural colonization is particularly hard to embrace because it leads to various consequences as over-loading effect coming from screen and drag effects, bio-chemical attacks of materials and mask effects for inspections methods. Only effects on loading are studied here. These effects are particularly hard to quantify because of the bio-variety of marine growth, season conditioning, natural cleaning or death of species, severe competition leading to replacement of some species and of course local hydrodynamic conditions. As in situ data collection through inspections is hard to practice and very expensive, lot of works propose experiments respecting scale effects and numerical modelling. Both are needed to perform uncertainty and sensitivity analyses. This paper proposes a numerical analysis of marine growth effects based on Response Surface Methodology. This method is here suggested to provide explicit approximations of load variables acting on offshore structures submitted to extreme events or fatigue loading as Jacket platforms. Then, from a sensitivity analysis, main factors conditioning load effects are pointed out. From a physical analysis of hydrodynamics parameters affecting these dominant variables, their probabilistic modelling is then suggested using available published experiments for several probabilistic characteristics.


Author(s):  
Yuh-Yih Wu ◽  
Ching-Tzan Jang ◽  
Bo-Liang Chen

Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) is recognized as an advanced combustion system for internal combustion engines that reduces fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. This work studied a 150 cc air-cooled, four-stroke motorcycle engine employing HCCI combustion. The compression ratio was increased from 10.5 to 12.4 by modifying the cylinder head. Kerosene fuel was used without intake air heating and operated at various excess air ratios (λ), engine speeds, and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) rates. Combustion characteristics and emissions on the target engine were measured. It was found that keeping the cylinder head temperature at around 120–130°C is important for conducting a stable experiment. Two-stage ignition was observed from the heat release rate curve, which was calculated from cylinder pressure. Higher λ or EGR causes lower peak pressure, lower maximum rate of pressure rise (MRPR), and higher emission of CO. However, EGR is better than λ for decreasing the peak pressure and MRPR without deteriorating the engine output. Advancing the timing of peak pressure causes high peak pressure, and hence increases MRPR. The timing of peak pressure around 10–15 degree of crank angle after top dead center indicates a good appearance for low MRPR.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 320-333
Author(s):  
F. Van den Abeele ◽  
J. Vande Voorde

The worldwide demand for energy, and in particular fossil fuels, keeps pushing the boundaries of offshoreengineering. Oil and gas majors are conducting their exploration and production activities in remotelocations and water depths exceeding 3000 meters. Such challenging conditions call for enhancedengineering techniques to cope with the risks of collapse, fatigue and pressure containment.On the other hand, offshore structures in shallow water depth (up to 100 meter) require a different anddedicated approach. Such structures are less prone to unstable collapse, but are often subjected to higherflow velocities, induced by both tides and waves. In this paper, numerical tools and utilities to study thestability of offshore structures in shallow water depth are reviewed, and three case studies are provided.First, the Coupled Eulerian Lagrangian (CEL) approach is demonstrated to combine the effects of fluid flowon the structural response of offshore structures. This approach is used to predict fluid flow aroundsubmersible platforms and jack-up rigs.Then, a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis is performed to calculate the turbulent Von Karmanstreet in the wake of subsea structures. At higher Reynolds numbers, this turbulent flow can give rise tovortex shedding and hence cyclic loading. Fluid structure interaction is applied to investigate the dynamicsof submarine risers, and evaluate the susceptibility of vortex induced vibrations.As a third case study, a hydrodynamic analysis is conducted to assess the combined effects of steadycurrent and oscillatory wave-induced flow on submerged structures. At the end of this paper, such ananalysis is performed to calculate drag, lift and inertia forces on partially buried subsea pipelines.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 39-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ozgur Ozguc

Abstract Offshore structures are exposed to the risk of damage caused by various types of extreme and accidental events, such as fire, explosion, collision, and dropped objects. These events cause structural damage in the impact area, including yielding of materials, local buckling, and in some cases local failure and penetration. The structural response of an FPSO hull subjected to events involving dropped objects is investigated in this study, and non-linear finite element analyses are carried out using an explicit dynamic code written LS-DYNA software. The scenarios involving dropped objects are based on the impact from the fall of a container and rigid mechanical equipment. Impact analyses of the dropped objects demonstrated that even though some structural members were permanently deformed by drop loads, no failure took place in accordance with the plastic strain criteria, as per NORSOK standards. The findings and insights derived from the present study may be informative in the safe design of floating offshore structures.


1986 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Lakshminarayana ◽  
P. Popovski

A comprehensive study of the three-dimensional turbulent boundary layer on a compressor rotor blade at peak pressure rise coefficient is reported in this paper. The measurements were carried out at various chordwise and radial locations on a compressor rotor blade using a rotating miniature “V” configuration hot-wire probe. The data are compared with the measurement at the design condition. Substantial changes in the blade boundary layer characteristics are observed, especially in the outer sixteen percent of the blade span. The increased chordwise pressure gradient and the leakage flow at the peak pressure coefficient have a cumulative effect in increasing the boundary layer growth on the suction surface. The leakage flow has a beneficial effect on the pressure surface. The momentum and boundary layer thicknesses increase substantially from those at the design condition, especially near the outer radii of the suction surface.


2000 ◽  
Vol 122 (4) ◽  
pp. 294-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl W. Schulz ◽  
Yannis Kallinderis

A generalized numerical method for solution of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in three-dimensions has been developed. This solution methodology allows for the accurate prediction of the hydrodynamic loads on offshore structures, which is then combined with a rigid body structural response to address the flow-structure coupling which is often present in offshore applications. Validation results using this method are first presented for fixed structures which compare the drag coefficients of sphere and cylinder geometries to experimental measurements over a range of subcritical Reynolds numbers. Additional fixed structure results are then presented which explore the influence of aspect ratio effects on the lift and drag coefficients of a bare circular cylinder. Finally, the spanwise flow variations between a fixed and freely vibrating cylindrical structure are compared to demonstrate the ability of the flow-structure method to correctly predict correlation length increases for a vibrating structure. [S0892-7219(00)00904-3]


Author(s):  
Martin Storheim ◽  
Gunnar Lian

Steep breaking waves can result in high impact loads on offshore structures, and several model test campaigns have been conducted to assess the effect of horizontal wave slamming. High loads have been measured, and they can be challenging to withstand without significant deformation. For wave slamming problems it is common to estimate the characteristic slamming load and assume that this will give an equivalent characteristic response. One challenge related to the slamming load is that it has a large variability in load level, the duration of the load and the shape of the overall load pulse. This variability can have a large impact on the estimated response to the characteristic load, causing a similar or larger variability in response. Due to the sensitivity to the structural response, it may be difficult to interpret large amounts of such data to arrive at a relevant design load without making overly conservative assumptions. This paper investigates the sensitivity of the structural response to assumptions made in the material modelling and how the short term variability is affected if we instead of load use response indicators such as plastic strain and max deformation to arrive at a characteristic load. For this purpose, a simplified dynamic response model is created, and the recorded wave impact events can then be evaluated based on the predicted structural response from the simplified model. It was found that the structural response is sensitive to the structural configuration. The assumed material behavior and hydro-elastoplastic effects were identified to greatly affect the structural response. A reasonable approach to arrive at the q-annual response seems to be to first estimate the q-annual extreme slamming load, and then run the structural analysis on several of the measured slamming time series with the estimated q-annual extreme pressure.


2006 ◽  
Vol 43 (03) ◽  
pp. 135-145
Author(s):  
Jeom Kee Paik

In design of ships and ship-shaped offshore units, issues related to impact pressure actions arising from sloshing, slamming, green water, or explosion are of particular concern. The structural response under impact pressure actions is quite different from that under static or quasistatic actions. It has been recognized that the limit state approach is a more rational basis for structural design and safety assessment where both "demand" (loads) and "capacity" (strength) must be accurately defined. For impact pressure action cases, the demand is associated with hydrodynamics areas, taking into account the characteristics of impact pressure-time history, and the structural capacity is associated with structural mechanics areas, considering geometric and material nonlinearities together with strain rate sensitivity. This paper reviews recent advances and trends toward future limit state design of ships and offshore structures under impact pressure actions.


Author(s):  
Hua Chen ◽  
Strong Guo ◽  
Xiao-Cheng Zhu ◽  
Zhao-Hui Du ◽  
Stone Zhao

In a previous publication (Guo & Chen et al., 2007), the authors solved the unsteady, 3-D Navier-Stokes equations with the k-ε turbulence model using CFX software to show that there is a volute stall coincided with the stage stall of a turbocharger centrifugal compressor operated at 423m/s tip speed and the stage stall frequency is dictated by a volute standing wave. This paper presents the flow condition at the vaneless diffuser and volute from the same simulation at various mass flow rates from stage peak efficiency to deep stage stall. Time averaged flow conditions show that (1) the influence of exducer blade passing at the volute inlet rapidly diminishes at the compressor peak pressure ratio point and the influence vanishes when the stage is in stall; (2) only at the peak pressure ratio point, circumferentially averaged, spanwise distribution of radial velocity at the volute inlet has an inflection point and the distribution meets the requirement of the Fjo̸rtoft instability theorem; (3) in the volute discharge section, the flow stalls after the stage stalls and the vortex core at the cross sectional center of the section breaks down; (4) impeller total pressure rise curve has a flat region in the middle before the stage stalls and (5) diffuser stall triggers the stage stall and drives the volute into stall.


Author(s):  
John C. Minichiello ◽  
Thomas C. Ligon ◽  
David J. Gross

This paper proposes Piping Code rules to address the effects of hydrogen deflagrations inside piping. Previous work proposed a set of criteria for piping subject to detonation loading [PVP2012-78519, PVP2012-78525]. This paper provides criteria to evaluate the effect of deflagrations, which typically have a slower rise time and lower energy, inside the piping. These deflagration criteria, coupled with the previously cited detonation criteria, are being used at the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant to evaluate piping systems subject to hydrogen accumulation. The previous papers did not investigate or propose criteria for deflagrations, as these were known to have lower pressures and slower pressure rise times, but are still of some significance for piping design. Recent work has shown that there exists a scenario in which the deflagration loading may be very significant: deflagrations in small gas pockets surrounded by large waste slugs. Depending on the assumptions used to develop the loading, the unbalanced forces on piping segments in a long piping system can become high during a deflagration event. Thus, for the set of criteria chosen for deflagration, the deflagration event may become the limiting event, especially if it is the more frequent event. The criteria proposed need to recognize this scenario and guide the user to possible solutions. This paper presents the original methodology for evaluating these “slug” events, briefly discusses the recent testing and theory being pursued to reduce the effect of the loading [PVP2015-45970, PVP2016-63260, PVP2016-63262], and then proposes criteria for evaluating deflagration induced stresses and loads.


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